The Proper Type of Slytherin
by Rainie Liu
Summary: A snake doesn't strike unless provoked. It would do some good for everyone to see what a proper Slytherin could do.
One, a boy with the beginnings of a devastatingly beautiful face, marred only by the look of disdain on his face. The other, a girl with round cheeks, highlighted by her beaming smile.

"Hello mister, do you know if Matron Evanna Cole is available?" The boy further scowled as the girl's accent touched his ears. It was too varying, the "r"s too pronounced and the vowels too stressed, like she was an elephant stumbling over pronunciations of the English language. Not to mention a smile that bright should be illegal, it was damaging his retina for sure.

"Tom? Who is at the door?" the Matron of the large orphanage came down the hall behind him, faltering when the named boy whipped around with one of his infamous scowls.

He did not answer her as he whirled around and stormed away. The Matron could only cluck her tongue, as she and the other caretakers had long given up on the otherwise handsome boy. In fact, they preferred the boy to keep to himself.

The Matron of Wool's Orphanage peered down at the small child on her doorstep. The girl, about five or so, peered up at her with ghoulish eyes. One a pale blue, and the other a golden hazel color. Together, they had a rather disconcerting effect on the face of a young child.

The child's face was well scrubbed but her clothes were worn and obviously mended many times. The careful stitches spoke of a caretaker that obviously cared greatly for the girl but didn't have the means to buy her new clothes. The girl also had what seemed to be an iron grip, going by how white her knuckles were turning, on a worn red suitcase by her side. It was covered in dust, the Matron wondered how on earth such a small person was able to lug such a large suitcase.

"Hi! I'm Genie!" The child piped as she held out a hand, dusty from the lugging she must have done. In fact, as the Matron glanced the girl over, the girl was pretty much dusty overall. That must have accounted for much of Tom's disdain, the boy had always been factiously clean.

The Matron sighed as she shook the girls hand and ushered her in after a brief introduction. Genie was yet another unfortunate victim of the American Great Depression that begun to spread its tentacles to the English economy. The Matron had seen ten other children arrive in the past two years alone, sent by harried parents who still had the means to send their child to a country less impacted by the Depression.

The Matron had never planned to take in more than ten of such children. While things may have been starting to get bad in New World, there were still many children here at home who needed help. However, Genie was a special case. The Matron's old friend at Washington's Children's Home had written to her, begging her to take in what she had described to be "a wonderfully kind and bright child, one that shone too brightly to be dragged through the darkness of the Depression".

Glancing at the girl almost jogging to keep up with the Matron's hurried pace, Evanna decided to agree that such a child should not be left to the nightmares the Depression brings.

Even if the girl had such strange eyes.

* * *

Saying that Genie fit right in with the children of Wool's Orphanage would be lying. In fact, Genie's transition into the social hierarchy that controlled the Orphanage's current minor population was rocky at best. She stood out, and that wasn't a good thing when it came to children.

"Little Ghostie" they called her, shrieking and running whenever she tried to talk to them. Her blue eye, in all its icy glory, seemed to have an uncanny ability to pierce right to a person's soul. None of the kids her age or older were quite able to accept her oddity.

But that had been at first.

Genie, from the time she first smiled, had an uncanny ability to draw people in, no matter how opposed they were to her from the beginning. First, it had been the Matron, who fell for Genie's happy-go-lucky attitude and tidy speech. Then, it had been the younger children, while scared of the girl's mismatched eyes, fell in love with the way she seemed to spread joy and sunshine. It was only a matter of time before the older kids adopted her as one of their "precious beings".

Such title of being "precious" to a bunch of orphans that never wanted to have anyone so they would never lose anyone, was something that Genie cherished with all her heart.

Unbeknownst to everyone at Wool's Orphanage, Genie didn't just charm her way into the hearts of humans. During the nighttime, when her roommates had long fallen asleep, Genie was taken to creeping out the window. Her room on the first floor had three glass windows, none with screens, and easy to climb through.

From there, Genie would explore the outer world of the Orphanage she now called home. It was a bit grim, from the way the gates surrounded all four sides of the manor, but it was nice in that the area enclosed included a grass field and trees.

Genie was particularly taken with an area of bushes when she chanced upon a mother cat and her kittens one night. Unlike other children, Genie did not blunder her way in and disturb the mother cat who was watching her curiously. Instead, she sat and watched the mother tend to her children.

A stirring of something Genie couldn't quite place roused in her stomach as she watched the tender way the mother cat tended to the kittens. That was something Genie herself had never been able to experience.

It was after that night that a portion of the ham from Genie's dinner found its way to the area of bushels behind Wool's Orphanage.


End file.
